AN: Welcome back to The Untold Stories! It's been a little while since the last chapter, so sorry if you wanted more, but I promise this one will be good!
Also, this chapter takes place just after CHapter 104 of the main story.
So, without further adieu, enjoy!
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Outside, the storm continued to howl, but within the youngest recruits' treehouse dwellings, it was relatively quiet, with the only signs of the turmoil outside being the muffled sound of the raging winds, the sound of rain on the windows, and the occasional flashes of lightning followed by the rumble of thunder.
The storm made it virtually impossible for the team to work outside, so they had decided to seek shelter in the lodgings. They had worried that the storm would still harass them on the way back, but it turned out that all of the park's buildings were connected by tunnels, meaning that they could reach their rooms without getting wet... well, wetter than they already were. The minute they got back, they all decided to take showers, glad that their rooms had quite a few of those.
As they washed away the dirt, rain and exhaustion that had covered all of them, the team was left to ponder the things they'd seen today. The team had, to their surprise, encountered people just after returning to the present, dressed in the skins of dears and wolves, who had defended them from terror birds and hyenas until the predators could be moved to their own holding pens. The fact that Terence had joined these people was surprising, but his friendliness and curiosity mitigated this surprise to some degree. Of course, the surprise they had felt at seeing the people was nothing compared to Nigel admitting that he could explain about them.
While the team had assumed that Nigel was hiding something, they couldn't help but feel a small amount of betrayal at the confirmation that he was indeed keeping secrets from them. Admittedly, he was too nice to truly hate, but the knowledge that he hadn't been entirely honest with them had still hurt. For now, though, they were willing to drop this topic, in part because he was willing to come clean with them about these people. But that was a questioned that would remain unanswered until tomorrow, due to the harshness of the storm making simply listening to the man a challenge.
So, once the team finished showering, they quickly found themselves without anything to do. After a few moments of minor discussion, they eventually just decided to do some, well, quiet things: Some went to listening to music, others read books, and a few (among the Michelle, Tristan and Sean) decided to browse the web.
This went on for a few hours, nobody really bothering anyone else about what they were doing, mostly because everyone was tired. The Saurus siblings had been worn down by the heat of the desert, while everyone else had been beaten down by the storm. Everybody really wanted a rest, so no one was willing to break the peace for some time.
Eventually, however, the friends and siblings began to speak to each other once more.
"So, Tristan, what are you looking up?" asked Tai, pausing from reading the book in his hands.
"New finds in paleontology. We might've just finished one mission, but there will always be more, so maybe we should consider looking into potential future rescues."
"...Good point. Anything good?"
"Well, how about I show you..."
While Tai and Tristan examined some of the new finds in paleontology, the rest of the group continued their previous efforts unmolested. Marcus was busy shaping clay into a model of a dragon, taking advantage of the quiet to work on the intricate details of the figure, such as the horns and the teeth, meticulously working to ensure that each and every detail was made with utmost precision. Nearby, Elise was carefully putting together models for the Sisters of Battle of Warhammer 40000. She didn't really have much interest in the hobby, feeling it was too violent for her tastes, but despite this, she regarded the models as works of art. The Sororitas were an interesting choice of models for her, as they and the Craftworld Eldar were the only sets to which she actually possessed sourcebooks on: the 40K tabletop games were something of a pastime for her family, so though she didn't necessarily like the game, that didn't mean she didn't play it.
Alice, meanwhile, was listening to music: she preferred classical music, but their were several exceptions to this. She was a closet fan of Brad Paisley, and much more openly a fan of Bastille, but she felt a need at times to keep an air of eloquence around herself, not that it applied here, among her friends.
As for Lucas, he was looking over phots he had taken prior to coming to the park. For all of his intellectual skill, he preferred photography to being in labs or classrooms: it gave him more to see, hear and experience. He hoped that soon, he could take pictures of the wildlife in the park, which would make him the first man to ever photograph extinct life. Now, though, he wasn't willing to ask, simply because he wasn't sure when was the best time to do so.
Nearby, Michelle was busy examining pictures of Ruby Rose and other perky goth characters on the web. For all of her sunshiny appearances in the park, she found herself more at home in that subculture, enjoying the macabre elements in it. In fact, her time at the park was one of the few times she didn't look at all like the gothic subculture, impart because most of the choices of attire that people tended to associate with that culture were likely to make her roast on a tropical island, where the sun was always beating down on you.
Not too far away, Vera was busy watering a sundew. The girl enjoyed being in the company of wildlife and loved to work with plants and animals. She was careful to avoid adding fertilizer to the water, for fear of harming the plant. She briefly recoiled when a fly that had somehow snuck into the room was caught in one of the sundew's arms, rapidly finding itself crushed by the folding limb. While she did not really have anything against carnivorous plants, seeing one devour its prey was always a surprise.
As for the rest of the room's occupants, including Sean, they were playing a game of monopoly. Sean had initially been examining information about prehistoric oceans, as he knew that he would eventually have to take part in an underwater mission, but his younger siblings had persuaded him to enjoy a bird game with him. And for a short while, everything was calm.
Eventually, though, it came time for the team to have dinner, and they quickly broke up and got ready to head over to the mess hall, making sure to put away all the things they had taken out to work on/play with. As they made their last preparations, the few team members still putting their computers away decided to check the news. For the most part, things were the same, including some debates on the coming presidential election. Other important events had also popped up, as had headliners about recently committed crimes. All the regular stories one would expect on the news.
All except one.
As he browsed through the news, an interesting story popped up on Tristan's computer: "Strange Lights reported alongside appearance of giant bear". According to the report, Alabama locals had reported seeing strange lights two nights ago, along with what had appeared to be an abnormally large bear. Officials claimed that the lights could have been caused by a storm that had occurred at the same time, and that the bear was probably just a really old bear. Locals insisted, however, that the bear was larger than anything they had ever seen, and more importantly, had a relatively short face compared to normal ones.
Tristan pondered over these facts for a moment, before saving the link and heading for dinner. Once the team returned to their lodgings, he would go over this in more detail.
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AN: Read, Review and Vote on the Poll. This is Flameal15k, signing off!
